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Meditation improved PTSD, normalized cortisol levels
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Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have reported that meditation and stretching could mitigate symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, thus regulating stress hormone levels.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leads to a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and potentiates abnormally high levels of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) and low levels of cortisol, according to researchers.
“Mind-body exercise offers a low-cost approach that could be used as a complement to traditional psychotherapy or drug treatments,” Sang H. Kim, PhD, from the NIH, said in a press release. “These self-directed practices give PTSD patients control over their own treatment and have few side effects.”
Kim and colleagues conducted a three-arm randomized controlled study to determine the underlying neuroendocrinological mechanisms associated with mindfulness-based stretching and deep breathing exercises in nurses (n=29) aged 45 to 66 years at the University of New Mexico Hospital.
The nurses were randomly assigned to biweekly, 60-minute mind-body exercise sessions for 8 weeks. At baseline, weeks 4, 8 and 16, the researchers measured serum cortisol. According to data, 22 (79%) nurses with PTSD symptoms and 7 (21%) without PTSD completed the study. After 8 weeks, those in the meditation group displayed greater serum cortisol measurements (mean difference=5.8; 95% CI, 0.83-10.8) and PTSD Checklist-Civilian version (PCL-C; mean difference=–13.6; 95% CI, –25.6 to –1.6) compared with controls. According to 16-week follow-up data, the improvements continued (P=.085 for PCL-C; P=0.21 for cortisol). Researchers wrote that improved PTSD scores led to the normalization of cortisol levels.
“This is a promising PTSD intervention worthy of further study to determine its long-term effects,” Kim said.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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